I have an air popper, and it works amazingly well. I have had the same one for over a decade too. No oil is required, which is nice, since my preference for butter is hardcoded in my Southern DNA.
Teflon should have never, ever ever have been released for use in pans. The documentation on it is 100% correct, it is completely inert, completely safe, completely OK... as long as it doesn't exceed a specific temperature.
Once that temperature is breached, the coating changes chemically. It off-gasses (and, for example, killing any canary near the kitchen). The teflon coating is no longer safe, that same chemical change has modified its chemical structure. And at that point, cooking on it means your food is now laden with those chemicals, and any flake of teflon you ingest is dangerous as well.
This is why using teflon in pans is just insane. The approval process presumed that no one would let a pan get too hot. What?! As if no one might get distracted by an emergency with a child, a phone ringing, someone coming to the door, and BAM!, the pan > 500F for a minute, and becomes death.
But conversely, things such as bread makers, and popcorn makers are sensible uses for teflon! They have internal thermostats, and often cannot easily even get to 500F. They won't cause this chemical change, and so are good and safe for this purpose.
Of course, I don't blame you for disliking teflon. I think it was absurd that it was approved for use in normal frying pans.
So, I lied. I actually have two models. One model I can do that in, but the other model has a mesh bottom over the heating element in which a fan blows the hot air. Thus, the mesh bottom one would be a bad, bad time if I put anything in it lol.
